Judge rejects guilty plea in molestation case

Girl's mother seeks leniency for accused; July 21 status hearing set.

Girl's mother seeks leniency for accused; July 21 status hearing set.

June 26, 2006|STAN MADDUX Tribune Correspondent

LaPORTE -- A Westville man accused of engaging in sex with a girl starting when she was 12 and videotaping one of the encounters had his guilty plea rejected Friday in LaPorte Circuit Court. Judge Robert Gilmore did not go through with sentencing as scheduled and set the case over for a July 21 status hearing after he was presented a letter written by the mother of the victim. In writing, she asked the court to be lenient with 19-year-old Michael Twichell, who originally was charged with Class B felony child molesting, Class C felony child molesting and Class C felony child exploitation. "I don't feel Mike should be tagged as a child molester or sex predator,'' the girl's mother stated in her letter. The woman said she was still upset about the situation, but that her daughter knew what she was doing. Even though her daughter was not of legal consent to engage in such practices, she consented, the mother continued. "He's a good kid," the woman said. "He's never been in trouble before. It was just a bad decision. I forgive him." According to court documents, Twichell and the girl met in August 2005 and the next month began a string of sexual encounters at a friend's apartment in LaPorte and Twichell's home in the 300 block of Birch Street. In November, LaPorte police were assigned the case after the girl was told by a friend of Twichell's that one of their alleged encounters was videotaped. According to court documents, Twichell used a hidden camera and then showed footage of them engaging in sex to several friends. The plea called for 24 months of probation on a conviction of a lesser charge of Class D felony battery to a juvenile. Among the other terms were 160 hours of community service. Gilmore said he was just presented the letter and wanted to review that along with other information in the case before making a final decision on the plea. Defense attorney David Jones of LaPorte wanted the court to accept the plea. Jones said he would beg to differ with anyone who believes the plea does not contain enough punishment. "The fact that he has to be here, that his name appears in the newspaper, that he had to quit school because of these allegations because he was going to get beat up at school. ... this is not a child molesting case,'' Jones said.